The Great Society
A War on Poverty
The War in Vietnam
The Civil Rights Act of 1964
The Voting Rights Act of 1965
The Texan’s Family
LBJ’s Resume
• Congressional
Staffer
• Member of the
House of
Representatives
• U.S. Senator
– Majority Leader
• Vice-President
“The Johnson
Treatment”
• Reputation of being
“overpowering and
intimidating”
• Invaded personal
space: nose to nose
• “persuasive and
personable rather than
elegant and charming”
Glencoe American History text p.855
The Texan’s Style
War on Poverty
“There are tens of millions of
Americans who are beyond
the welfare state.
Taken as a whole there is a
culture of poverty…bad
health, poor housing, low
levels of aspiration, and high
levels of mental distress.
Twenty percent of a nation,
some 32,000,000.”
Michael Harrington,
author of the Culture of
Poverty 1962
War on Poverty
“The Great Society rests on
abundance and liberty for all.
It demands an end to poverty
and racial injustice.” LBJ
1964
•Medicare and Medicaid
•Head Start
•HUD
•Job Corps
•Water Quality and Clean Air Acts
•Highway Safety Act
•Fair Packaging and Labeling Act
The 1964 Election
1964 Republican Candidate
AZ Sen. Barry Goldwater
• http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tHAtUjJpV
LY
• Conservatives take over the 1964 Republican
National Convention
• http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ix7is2yUuQ&mode=related&search=
• http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KIxlsr3UUk
Y&mode=related&search=
• Ronald Reagan campaigns for AgH20
“The Daisy Ad”
“The Daisy Ad”
• http://www.youtube.com
/watch?v=Cl4awae0R0
M&mode=related&sear
ch=
Johnson/Humphrey
The Results
“WE SHALL OVERCOME”
Civil Rights
Legislation
Civil Rights Act 1964
Voting Rights Act 1965
“We Shall Overcome”
• http://www.youtube.com/watch
?v=bKDVNSpsBZE&mode=rel
ated&search=
• http://www.ourdocuments.gov/
doc.php?flash=true&doc=97
• http://www.ourdocuments.gov/
doc.php?doc=100
Gulf of Tonkin Resolution
1965
• http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HQDi
Rk8zzAw&NR=1
• A US ship was attacked on 2
August 1964. But was there a
second?
Tet Offensive 1968
The 1968 Decision
• http://www.presidency
.ucsb.edu/ws/index.ph
p?pid=28772
1968 Tet Offensive
• http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=i214f
5-w19w&mode=related&search=
– Cronkite’s editorial
– President Johnson “If I’ve lost Cronkite,
I’ve lost the American people.”